Dead Town Revival

Hasta La Muerte (Sinister Muse)
By Craig Regala

Way back during the Sex Pistols’ 20th anniversary show, one of the guys reviewing it mentioned “punk rock” had become a sort of folk music combining urges via protest, populist myth and three chords, and a cloud of dust playing. Well, that fits here. Dead Town Revival hit the mark with anthemic choruses (have they ever banged out Naked Raygun’s “Home of the Brave” at soundcheck ?), melodic guitar lines that go from electric ’66 folk up through Mick’s leads in The Clash to later guitar rockers like Leatherface, Mega City 4, Dag Nasty, and the rootsier sprinklings you find on Oi! comps and the Warped tour. They do this in a set up not far from Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Two rockabilly: A stripped-down, nervous energy runs through the music. Hell, they could probably rock an acoustic set just as hard.

The songs are good and catchy, working around the three minute territory with clean, plain-spoken vocals, and really great supportive bass player. Oldie I’d like to hear’m cover: The Ruts’ “Something That I Said.” 120 Minutes MTV hit I wanna here’m bang around: The Alarm’s “The Stand.” Tour I wanna see’m on: The Dropkick Murphys. Play’m with Naked Raygun, New Model Army, Roger Mirret and the Disasters, US Bombs, Sham 69, and damn near anything on the Hellcat label.
(www.sinistermuse.com)